Madrid operates on Central European Time (CET) during winter months, which is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+1). During daylight saving time, observed from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October, Madrid switches to Central European Summer Time (CEST), which is UTC+2.
Madrid is the capital of Spain and sits at the geographic center of the Iberian Peninsula. Despite being geographically aligned with London's longitude, Spain uses Central European Time. Madrid is 6 hours ahead of New York and shares the same time as Paris, Berlin, and Rome.
Spain adopted CET during World War II to align with Nazi Germany and never switched back. Geographically, Spain should be on GMT like Portugal and the UK. This means Spanish sunset times are unusually late—in summer, the sun doesn't set in Madrid until nearly 10 PM, contributing to Spain's famous late-night dining culture.